Psychosocial patient characteristics and GP-registered chronic morbidity: a prospective study

The aim of this study was to get a profile of patients who are vulnerable to get multiple chronic, recurrent or high-impact diseases in a limited time period. We studied the incidence rates of morbidity and multimorbidity, and the influence of psychosocial characteristics on their occurrences.

Cohort study with 3551 subjects. Baseline measurement of psychosocial characteristics and a 2-year follow-up period for morbidity. The relations were evaluated using multiple logistic regression analysis.

After adjustment for basic socio-demographic variables, a high internal locus of control belief was found to be protective [odds ratio (OR)=0.82] for the occurrence of morbidity, negative life events increased the risk (OR=1.22). Characteristics specifically protective for the occurrence of multimorbidity as compared to monomorbidity were: a high internal locus of control belief (OR=0.73), living as a couple or in a family as compared to living alone (OR=0.68) and a large social network (OR=0.41).

It appears that certain patient characteristics are specifically related to the occurrence of multimorbidity. This provides opportunities for the future development of preventive interventions.